1. Field of the Invention
An integral winding machine for winding strand onto a stationary, cylindrical, self-supporting package wherein the machine transfers the strand of material from a supply source to the package in such a manner that the strand may subsequently be withdrawn from the package with no additional twist being added thereto.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is crowded with numerous machines designed to wind strand such as yarn, thread, rope, cord and the like into a neat package suitable for shipment within the related industries. Normally, these winding machines receive a single strand of material and wind it about a central core of the package which acts a mounting surface, providing stability and defining the overall shape of the package. These packages, as commonly used in the textile industry, are principally produced by winding or wrapping the strand about the central core by leading the strand onto the core while the core rotates so as to accumulate the strand thereabout. When the strand is required to be removed from the package for its intended use, the strand may be drawn away from the central core in such a manner which causes the package to unroll thereby releasing the strand. Accordingly, during unrolling of the package, the central core is rotated in the opposite direction to that in which it was originally rotated to wind the strand onto the core. This method of strand delivery from the wound package produces no change in twist to the strand as it releases therefrom. However, this method is often found to be unsatisfactory because as the strand is drawn from the package, the central core often overruns resulting in unacceptable variance in the tension in the strand as it is being delivered from the package. Often, the strand on these wound packages is fed through machinery such as those used in the textile industry for weaving the strand into a fabric. Regardless of the type of machinery or the material being used, it is extremely important that the strand is delivered to the machine under a constant speed and tension to avoid overrun of the strand which may lead to kinking and jamming as well as unnecessary stress exerted on the machinery.
To avoid this problem, most methods of strand delivery in the present art are accomplished by maintaining the package in a stationary position while withdrawing the strand off the end therefrom for its intended use. However, since the strand is normally wound onto the package by rotating the central core, withdrawing the strand off the end while maintaining the package stationary results in an additional twist being added to the strand. It is extremely important that strand composed of multi-filaments, such as spun yarns and the like, possess only a good binding twist to contain the yarn firmly together. Any additional twist added thereto during delivery from the package often results in unacceptable kinking of the strand which leads to jamming of the machinery.
Accordingly, there is a need in the textile industry, as well as other related industries requiring the use of wound strand material, for a strand winding machine adapted to transfer strands of material from a supply source to a stationary, coreless, self-supporting cylindrical package wherein the strand can be withdrawn from the stationary package without introducing any additional twist thereto. Additionally, there is a need for a strand winding machine which is adapted to continuously wind strand onto a stationary, coreless, self-supporting package wherein portions of the formed package may be regularly removed without stopping the machine or the winding process, with each removed portion being interconnected with the next succeeding portion. Further, there is a need in the present art for a strand winding machine adapted to form a plurality of interconnected coreless cylindrical packages or portions thereof such that exceedingly long, knotless and endless lengths of strand are available for a required use.